The Panther Prints

Dear Students of MVMS, In light of the recent events at Mill Valley Middle School involving the writing of defamatory symbols there have been many discussions condemning this incident. Although, I do not believe these students acted with the malicious intentions that the symbols represent, but it is essential to realize there are many people out in the world that do. This incident forces us to recognize that morality on a whole, is relative. Our society, our culture constructs the basis of our morality and our family and history fill in the blanks. In our society, we are given many liberties in what we choose to believe as guaranteed  in our Constitution: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of religion. With these freedoms, we must tolerate many opposing points of view and many different views on what is right and what is wrong. We learn from our schools, parents, and friends what is good and bad, and it is usually not a conscious decision. For example, imagine a kid wh

    Overall, the Grammy’s were actually pretty entertaining. The performance with A Tribe Called Quest and Anderson .Paak were great and very relevant because of the themes of resistance in their music. Anderson .Paak was definitely a good choice to pair with the old-school sound of A Tribe Called Quest. One of my few problems was how many awards Adele won. “Hello” was good, great even, but 23 as an album was definitely not better than Views or Formation. Everybody and their mom listened to Views and Formation which empowered women everywhere to stand up for themselves. Even Adele wanted Beyonce to win the award for best album of the year. I was also very disappointed that Frank Ocean didn’t submit his album Blonde, because, for me that was the best album of the year and definitely in my top 5 of all time.     Some of my favorite moments in the Grammy’s were when James Corden started rapping and got a bit political, Schoolboy Q was shown wearing a bright pink hoodie with “GIRL POWER”

I’m Sorry Words fall from my mouth in jest Like daggers with no purpose Points sharp, intentions dull Yet they find your heart Dead on I laugh, not seeing, not looking At the blood drowning your chest At your glassy eyes You choke, tugging at the dagger Wedged deep And I notice I blubber on my apologies pushing My heel into the wound Did I see you as they dropped from my red hands? Did I see you when I let them fall? I did not mean it My conscience is made of angel feathers I never meant to harm you, precious you My actions are blistering Pressed into coals to feed the fire My apologies do not heal your punctured heart or revive your glassy eyes Mountainous fields of misunderstanding Echo between us as I cradle Your heart And grasp your silent, cold hands for forgiveness.

Jicama Heist  Jicama, oh jicama wherefore art thou jicama? Deny thy orange and refuse thy tray And I swear, my love, they will serve you on every hot lunch day. And so, our story begins with the purge for jicama and the everlasting hunger for it. There we were, eating our drab cheddar bunnies and cardboard pizza slices, longing for the juicy, crunch of jicama, And then we saw it, the beautiful, pure white jicama. So we double knotted our shoelaces and got in our stances, ready to make the run. “GO, GO, GO, GO, GO!!!!” Running up to the hot lunch window, crouching so that the lunch lady can't see us, reaching our arms up into the bins, and snatching the beautiful vegetable, and making a run for it. Panting, we make it back to the classroom and revel in our newly won prize, Chanting our happy poem, “Jicama, oh jicama wherefore art thou jicama? Deny thy orange and refuse thy tray And I swear, my love, they will serve you on every hot lunch day!” Know it by heart, an

A Still World By: Carly Deep ocean obis  Crashed jello waves stop to watch The flowers dance in the tall grass  On a simple day The kids went out to play Running barefoot on The dusty savanna Dancing on the farm A girl listens to the music  Made by the world The geese flapping in the sky The grass swayed The children's feet put the beat in motion As she listened she heard wild horses Running through the savanna All put together with the Bubbles of the fish Popping at the surface of the oceans Waves soared through the beat Crashing on the sand like a symbol It was a beautiful piece of art Being painted on a rainy day as The water dripped down the window In the forest the dew slipped off  The smallest of grass Making the pinging vibration of the world As it Circulated in the dancing girl's blood and She danced wildly through the world’s deepest peaks and tallest canyons.  Singing to the beat was the most melodic tune of

Answers for January: 1. A catcher and an umpire 2. The letter E 3. A seat belt 4. A desk This month's riddles: 1. A rich man was found murdered on a Sunday morning. There were four suspects, each of them claiming to do something when the murder happened: The gardener claimed to be picking vegetables. The cook claimed to be making breakfast. The maid claimed to be picking up the post. The butler claimed to be dusting the shelves. Who murdered the rich man? 2. A woman killed her husband, leaving NO TRACES OR EVIDENCE that she did the crime. Then, she dumped her husband onto the ground and drove home. Later that night, she got a call from the police saying that her husband was murdered. She drove straight to where she murdered her husband and was arrested on the spot. How did the police know she was the murderer? 3. Two women were having lunch together. They each ordered the same drink: Iced tea with extra ice. One of them drank five iced teas extremely fast, and